After a while, one by one, they shivered like leaves in the rain, going to grab towels to wipe themselves off.
When I mentioned it to my friends, they said it was inhumane.
In fact, most people who end up in prison are guilty, according to the law.
I'm referring to most of them. Those who were wronged or ended up here due to other circumstances don't count.
The purpose of this treatment is to tell them that once they're here, they should behave, which also makes it easier for the guards to manage them.
After they dried off and put on their prison uniforms, they were sent to various units and cells.
The "tough girl" was assigned to Unit B. Originally, there were two guards supposed to escort the new female prisoners there, but I'm not sure where her partner went, so I volunteered to help.
The tough girl glanced at me and said, "No need."
Actually, I was thinking that Xue Mingmei was in Unit B. If I took these new prisoners there, I could run into her.
And if I was lucky, I might be able to find out where the mysterious privileged female prisoner was housed.
I said, "The warden asked me to help. If you don't let me go, she'll scold me later. Be careful, she might scold you too."
The tough girl feared the warden and had no choice but to agree.
We both escorted the new prisoners to Unit B.
When we reached the second floor of Unit B, I knew that was where Xue Mingmei's cell was.
As soon as we went upstairs, we heard loud noises and sounds of fighting coming from her cell. It seemed like they were fighting again.
The tough girl, Xu Nan, immediately jogged over to Xue Mingmei's cell and shouted, "What's going on!?"
I jogged over as well.
The scene inside the cell was chaotic. Prison uniforms were scattered on the floor, and many of the female prisoners were naked, some with visible scratch marks on their bodies.
As soon as they saw the guards, they stopped fighting, and the two groups parted.
On the floor, a female prisoner lay motionless, naked, as if already dead.
She wasn't Sister Qu, but a pale, smooth, young body. I didn't know what these people had done to her.
After they separated, all the prisoners looked at Xu Nan, then at me.
Since I had been in this cell before, they recognized me. Plus, under Xu Nan's authority, they didn't act as impulsively as before.
Sister Qu and others were there, but there was no sign of Xue Mingmei. Could the one lying on the floor be Xue Mingmei?
"Is she dead?" I asked, raising my voice in concern.
No one answered my question.
I turned to Xu Nan and said, "Quick, open the door!"
Xu Nan refused, saying, "Have you forgotten your experience here that night?"
I shouted, "Open the door! Someone's dying!"
Xu Nan yelled back at me, "I warn you, Zhang Fan! If they start acting up again, we won't be able to stop them!"
"Open the door!" I moved closer to Xu Nan, pushing her to open it.
She seemed startled and took a step back, then huffed, "Stop shouting!"
"I told you to open the door!" I pressed again.
"What's going on, what's going on?"
Sister Ma Ling and two other guards arrived.
Xu Nan reported to Ma Ling, "Captain Ma, the prisoners in this cell are getting worse. A few days ago, they caused trouble, and now they're fighting again."
Ma Ling, together with Xu Nan, took out the keys and unlocked the cell. The guards filed in, and I followed them inside.
The female prisoners obediently squatted on the floor, holding their heads, moving quickly and in sync.
I rushed over to the girl lying on the ground, only to find that she wasn't Xue Mingmei, but a young and attractive girl.
A weight lifted from my heart—thankfully, it wasn't Xue Mingmei.
This young girl had pale skin, trembling slightly, with her lips tightly pressed, her face contorted in pain.
Suddenly, a female prisoner jumped up and rushed toward me, touching me, "A man!"
The previously calm cell erupted into chaos again, with many female prisoners rushing toward me.
"Get away! What are you doing?" Ma Ling shouted as she swung her baton.
Along with Xu Nan's strong baton strikes, the female prisoners screamed and quickly squatted back down.
"Keep causing trouble, huh? I'll deduct points from whoever is the most troublesome!" Ma Ling scanned them with a sharp gaze.
No one dared to speak.
Ma Ling pointed at the girl on the ground and ordered Xu Nan and another female guard, "Take her to the hospital, quickly!"
Xu Nan took off her jacket and wrapped the girl up. Then, she picked her up and carried her out.
Ma Ling looked at the squatting prisoners and then turned to the one who had rushed at me, asking, "Luo Chunfang, what's going on here?"
Luo Chunfang didn't respond.
Ma Ling scolded, "Luo Chunfang, you're the cell leader! In just a few days, so many incidents have happened here. What's going on?"
Luo Chunfang nonchalantly pointed to the corner and said, "Ask her. She's the real cell leader. I've been removed."
"I don't care if you're the cell leader or not. Answer me!" Ma Ling shouted angrily.
Luo Chunfang, a little startled, pointed to a line of female prisoners in front of her and said, "This isn't my fault. It's Xue Mingmei and her group causing trouble! We're all just trying to earn points to get out sooner. She and her gang kept taking them from us, and when we didn't give them, they started fighting. Captain Ma, you saw it too. Look what they did to the new girl, almost killing her."
I looked where Luo Chunfang was pointing, and there in the corner, crouching with a seductive posture, was Xue Mingmei.
Xue Mingmei gave a cold laugh but didn't respond.
Ma Ling shouted, "Xue Mingmei! Come out here!"
Xue Mingmei, arrogantly, stood up, glared at Luo Chunfang, and walked in front of Ma Ling.
"Xue Mingmei, do you have a death wish?" Ma Ling shouted.
Xue Mingmei didn't look at Ma Ling, but rather threw me a flirtatious glance, saying, "I do, very much. I need some relief."
Perhaps because Xue Mingmei ignored her, Ma Ling angrily grabbed Xue Mingmei's head and roughly pushed her, yelling, "Shut up! You're such a slut, so shameless!"
Xue Mingmei just laughed coldly.
The other female prisoners were all terrified of Ma Ling, but Xue Mingmei didn't seem to care.
Ma Ling didn't tolerate it, though. She raised her leg and kicked Xue Mingmei in the face, followed by several hard slaps, shouting, "Xue Mingmei, do you want to go to solitary?"
Watching the brutal beating, I trembled.
Are all the female guards in the prison like this? So violent?
I felt a bit sorry for Xue Mingmei and frowned, but I was powerless to stop it.
Xue Mingmei seemed used to being beaten and showed no concern, saying, "This kind of thing happens in every cell. As for Luo Chunfang, can't you tell? I took what she wanted. If I didn't, she'd lose her performance points."
"Shut up!" Ma Ling pushed Xue Mingmei again and then ordered the guards, "Take Xue Mingmei out, teach her a lesson, and put her in solitary. Zhang Fan, you come too!"
The guards pushed Xue Mingmei out of the cell, and I followed behind them.
Solitary confinement... what's it like?
I was wondering when, unexpectedly, Xue Mingmei slowed down, reached back, and teasingly grabbed my neck, saying, "Officer Zhang, is that why you're here? To see little old me?"
Even on the verge of punishment, Xue Mingmei remained unfazed, as if none of this concerned her.
The female guard saw this and tightened her grip on me. I whispered in pain, "Xue Mingmei! Let go!"
"Do you want me to let go?" Xue Mingmei teased.
"What's wrong with you?! Let go! It hurts!" I hissed.
She laughed, satisfied with herself, "I'm not letting go. Since you don't want me, I'll make you want me."
This was the first time I encountered a female prisoner acting this crazy, and I felt afraid. The second time, I was terrified. But by the third time, I realized they were actually pitiful.
As for the sexual assault I experienced earlier, I started to understand them.
These people, locked in this small space for so many years, had built up a crazy thirst for sex and freedom. It's a fundamental human need.
According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, sex is more important than freedom. Physical needs are the most basic, primal, and powerful motivators.
When someone is controlled by physical needs, all other needs become secondary.
And when suppressed needs finally erupt, people lose control.
If someone is deprived of food, they'll stop at nothing to get it.
In times of war,In times of war, people won't wait in line for bread.Here, for freedom, they are willing to pay, and for sex, they are even more willing to pay.Xue Mingmei looked at me with a dazed gaze and reached her hand toward my neck.With a loud bang, the female guard's baton hit Xue Mingmei's head, causing her to pull back her hand in pain.I glared at the guard and said, "What are you doing? Are you trying to kill her?"The guard, puzzled, responded, "Do you want her to kill you?"In her view, she had saved me, yet I was blaming her.After Xue Mingmei pulled her hand back, the guard threatened her with a few more words, saying, "If you don't behave, I'll give you a few more hits!"She shook her baton menacingly.Xue Mingmei didn't even look at the baton or the guard, instead focusing on me with a strange expression, "Man, did you think that the one lying down was me? Were you worried about me...?"I was about to respond when the guard yelled at her, "Shut up!"I kept quiet, feeling scared. Having only just arrived in prison and still not understanding the situation, with no connections to anyone, I had no choice but to swallow my frustration, watching as the disapproving Captain Ma and these female guards violently insulted and abused Xue Mingmei.I walked behind the guard and Xue Mingmei, and asked her, "Sister, my name is Zhang Fan, I'm new here. What's your name?""Oh, my name is Ma Shuang."Again, with the surname Ma."Then, is Ma Ling, the captain, your sister?""She's my cousin," she replied.It turns out, Captain Ma had brought her cousin into the women's prison as well. This is a reality that has existed for ages in traditional societies, where connections, favors, and nepotism often reign. The phrase "when one person rises, even the chicken and dog rise" is a stark reality.We hadn't walked far when we reached a row of iron bars on the playground.Ma Shuang motioned for me to steady Xue Mingmei, and then she stepped forward, pressing Xue Mingmei against the iron bars, and immediately took out handcuffs, locking them onto her.